Quit smoking leads to alcoholism?

Because so many ex-smokers she knows become heavy drinkers or alcoholics after quitting, Benet fears that if tobacco is banned then she will become dependent on alcohol, too, and that worries her because her body cannot tolerate alcohol.

"I can't help it if I can't tolerate alcohol," says Benet. "If I could, I'd be a lot better off in many, many ways than I am now. For starters, I had to give up the love of my life because he drank and kept on at me to take it up again, not believing how alcohol seriously affected my health.”

“I've spent most of my life being an ex-drinking smoker in a drinker's world, and while the sight and smell of alcohol certainly does trigger old desires I'm sane enough to handle it – as long as I can smoke,” explains Benet. “I remember how ill alcohol made me, and that does it for me."

"It seems that ex-smokers who gave up smoking for health reasons -- and then took up drinking -- are not only getting a better deal than I am but are also calling the shots, as alcoholics,” says Benet, “and this is so unfair because smoking calms my nerves – it’s my legal drug of choice.”

"Smoking never affected my health like alcohol did, so I never had reason to quit and still don't, but my nerves are getting so bad with all the non-smoking nonsense that if I did try to quit I'd need some pretty heavy tranquillizers to get there and stay there," sighs Benet. “It's definitely not something I care to try while I am still employed."

"Unlike smokers, drinkers just can't seem to enjoy their habit alone," sighs Benet. "They always want to force their habit upon you and get offended if you politely refuse. I get along fine with drinkers who also smoke, but if I have to socialize with non-smoking drinkers -- especially ex-smokers -- it doesn't take long for them to start abusing my smoking habit. Funny about that, isn't it?"

"Ex-drinking smokers don't abuse drinkers or preach to them," says Benet, "and I can't understand why ex-smokers can't bear being around us, whether we drink or not.”

"Maybe the abusive ex-smoking drinkers gave up cigarettes for the wrong reasons," muses Benet, "and that's why they go crazy when they see and smell cigarette smoke?"

"If I can't drink for health reasons, and I'm soon going to be prevented from smoking anywhere -- even in my own home -- then where does that leave me when I take early retirement (to avoid smoking hassles at work) and have umpteen years ahead of me to fill?"

"Do I go with the flow and become an alcoholic, or do I experiment with other drugs -- legal or otherwise?" asks Benet. "And don't give me any crap about not needing a drug.”

“I can't undo all those years and pretend I'm an innocent young girl again,” says Benet, “and besides which I don't know anybody who doesn't take something, legal or illegal, to make life less painful or more pleasant."

“Do you?”

Read more by Benet on this issue:

tobacco vs. alcohol
Toxic workplace drinking culture

asthma on the rise?

Henny, 27, works in marketing and knows all the dirty tricks that are used to sell products and ideas, and she is very concerned about the alarming incidence of asthma in young people she knows and believes the government is failing in its health messages to young people who really need good advice before they start experimenting with drugs (which they all will).

"I think that far too many babies are being born prematurely these days without much thought being given to the development of their lungs," says Henny. "No wonder asthma is on the rise, and that being the case the government should warn asthmatics, specifically, not to try smoking.”

"Can you believe that I know several asthmatics who smoke?" sighs Henny. "They swear that they didn't have asthma before they smoked but I don't believe them."

"They must have shown signs of lung weakness in their childhoods -- lots of coughs and colds, that sort of thing -- and knowing this they shouldn't have started smoking at all, but since tobacco has been targeted by the government as the most forbidden drug, worse than heroin, it’s going to appeal to rebellious teenagers, isn’t it?”

"I appreciate that peer pressure causes a lot of young people to start smoking or drinking or generally taking drugs or indulging in risky behavior," says Henny, ''but surely someone with pre-existing asthma or chest disease --- or a family history of chest or heart disease -- would have more sense than to risk their lives with smoking."

"My sister tried smoking about the same time I did but it just wasn't for her," explains Henny. "She was coughing and spluttering so much with her first cigarette that she never smoked again. She had no medical complaint -- she just didn't take well to her first cigarette -- and that's also a very smart reason to quit trying to smoke."

"Why do people persevere with smoking when it made them sick to start off with?" asks Henny. "What right do they have in later life to blame tobacco for their ills? They have only themselves to blame and should grow up, get smart, and admit it."

"As for me, well, my first cigarette was very pleasant and it's been that way for ten years now and my heath is perfect," says Henny. "I've never had a cold or a cough in my life and I can run faster than I did when I was a teenager so my lungs must be in very good shape."

"I get very angry when I'm with smokers who are forever coughing or wheezing or looking ill," says Henny. "They just give smoking a bad rap and make life difficult for those of us who have no ill effects from smoking."

"Can't they see that they shouldn't be smoking, that it's not for them?"

"Can you believe that I know several asthmatics who smoke?" sighs Henny. "They swear that they didn't have asthma before they smoked but I don't believe them. They must have shown signs of lung weakness in their childhoods -- lots of coughs and colds, that sort of thing -- and knowing this they shouldn't have started smoking at all."

"It's as silly as someone with a known allergy insisting on eating or using the substance they are allergic to, isn't it?" asks Henny. "If something you like doing -- like smoking -- is causing you trouble then you should give it up immediately and take up some other drug. God knows there are hundreds of them and every one of them is now more socially acceptable than smoking thanks to sick smokers who've quit, or refuse to quit, and give smoking a bad rap."

"I believe smoking became unacceptable because far too many people with medical problems, or tendencies for them, took up smoking and worsened a health problem that was already there," explains Henny. "I think, too, that far too many babies are being born prematurely these days without much thought being given to the development of their lungs. No wonder asthma is on the rise."

"I used to be cool and rolled my own cigarettes from pure tobacco," says Henny, "but my life got too busy and I had to start smoking ready-made cigarettes with all the poisons that go into them. I don'tlike these cigarettes as much as my rollies, but at least I minimize the harm they may do me by using a tar-filter."

"If I ever developed a cough or felt unwell I would quit smoking immediately," confides Henny. "I am far too intelligent to carry on doing something that is harming me."

"Until then, I am adamant that smoking does more to enhance my life experience than anything else,"says Henny, "and this is how it is for the majority of smokers I know who are happier and healthier than the general population and genuinely nice people to know, too."

"The minority of smokers who are miserable, unwell or not nice people to know -- because of mental illness or criminal tendencies -- are, unfortunately, the ones that the media puts forward to represent all smokers," sighs Henny. "It is incredibly biased, and don't get me started about those awful anti-smoking advertisements. The one I hate most is the 'rotting teeth' and although it is not funny that our government would abuse smokers in this way, it is absolutely ridiculous that they picked up some alcoholic bum who had never seen a dentist in his life and used his mouth to depict what every smoker's mouth looks like -- or will end up looking like."

"How stupid does the government think its citizens are?" sighs Henny. "Anyone, smoker or not, would end up with a mouth full of rotten teeth if they never cleaned them or saw a dentist."

"I work in marketing myself and I know the dirty tricks that are used to sell products and ideas," confides Henny. "If the government was more concerned about our health and less about vilifying smokers, it might have used positive advertisements to get its message across to the young people who really need good advice before they start experimenting with drugs."

"Such as? Well, informing them that smoking is not for everyone and that if you have any chest complaint or family history of heart or lung disease you should not try it."

"Actually, I don't think the government should be poking its nose into our lifestyles but if it insists on doing so it should be fair and evenhanded," says Henny. "Some governments are so concerned about the spread of disease that they hand out free condoms to prostitutes and gays and even provide shooting galleries with free needles for drug addicts."

"With this sort of thing going on it beats me why governments are so down on smokers," sighs Henny."Isn't democracy supposed to give two sides to every argument? Sure, there are susceptible people who are going to get ill with smoking -- and shouldn't smoke -- but most smokers live pretty long and healthy lives."

"Why are governments hiding this obvious fact?"

"I'd like to start a campaign to present a healthier image of smokers and to this end I would like all the sick people to stop smoking right now, and all the young people about to experiment with drugs to keep away from smoking if they have pre-existing chest conditions or family tendencies that are incompatible with smoking."

tobacco vs. alcohol

Benet is approaching retirement age and, facing bans on smoking all over the place, she regrets how smoking is affecting her social life but makes the point that the tobacco war is not about health but the profits of the alcohol industry and that lawyers are behind it.

"What really angers me is that my smoking friends and I can no longer enjoy meals at our favorite restaurants -- they've all gone smoke free!" sobs Benet. "Sure, we can go there and sit among all the drinkers having a good time while eating their meals, but we can no longer light up before, during and after courses like we once could -- we have to go outside, and baby it's cold outside!"

"The restaurant owners refuse to open up a smoking area -- saying that they're operating an eating establishment not a smoking establishment," says Benet, "but what if alcohol were banned in eating establishments -- would they fob off the drinkers with a similar response?"

"I don't think so, they'd sooner make moonshine out the back than lose the patronage of drinkers," laughs Benet, "and this is the point I am trying to make. Restaurant owners make more money out of the liquor they sell than the food they serve and because of this they are perfectly willing to turn a blind eye to the occasional drunken behavior and vomit all over the place."

"They quite happily support the ban on smoking because smokers are not as lucrative as drinkers," explains Benet. "Why would they go to the expense of providing us with a properly ventilated smoking area when we just pay for food and buy our cigarettes elsewhere?"

"Sure, they can spout the health hazards of passive smoking on staff and patrons," says Benet, "but never once in my many years of smoking has any restaurant owner, waiter or fellow restaurant patron complained.”

“Most drinking patrons were too drunk to notice, and most waiters were too eager for a big fat tip -- which they always got -- to care."

"Bearing in mind that the sale and use of alcohol was prohibited for quite a number of years prior to WWII, it's amazing that it's such a mainstream drug today, having pushed out cigarettes, cannabis, cocaine and everything else that people once freely enjoyed."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that tobacco is going to be prohibited," says Benet, "and having had personal experience of their enormous capacity to drink as well as their utter distain for the guys who smoked, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the non-smoking lawyers I once worked with, now in their late 50s to early 70s, are behind these changes."

"Perhaps a check of the liquor industry register would turn up some interesting names," laughs Benet, "and in the meantime my smoking friends and I are showing our contempt for liquor loving restaurants by boycotting them."

Read more by Benet on this issue:

Toxic workplace drinking culture
Quit smoking leads to alcoholism?

if smoking kills, why is it legal?

Tyla is 23, works in hospitality and she's thoroughly confused about all the anti-smoking hype. She enjoys a smoke socially -- so she's not yet a daily addict -- and it's at this stage in her life that she feels the government should stop flip-flopping on the issue and either ban the sale of cigarettes or get off smokers' backs.

"In my work I get to see plenty of off-duty health officials and they're off their face with one drug or another," laughs Tyla, "and while it's true that very few of them would be sneaking out back for a smoke the fact is that they don't practise what they preach."

"If smoking kills then the government would ban the sale of cigarettes outright, wouldn't it?" asks Tyla. "Either the government is deliberately killing us by not banning tobacco or it is deliberately lying to us in order to keep the money coming in. Which is it?"

"Maybe I'm naive, but when my government bans a substance I believe it's harmful and when it doesn't, I believe it's okay."

"Because the government is flip-flopping on the issue of smoking -- on one hand telling us how harmful it is and how we can't smoke in certain places any more and on the other hand it allows tobacco products to be sold in supermarkets and at the local store -- I don't know what to believe any more."

"If alcohol isn't allowed to be sold in supermarkets and local stores like cigarettes are," says Tyla, "then that means that cigarettes must be safer than alcohol, right? So why aren't there any warnings on liquor bottles and cans?"

"Can you see how confusing all this is to young people?"

"Like most of my friends I am left wondering about what the hell the government is really doing."

"Either it is deliberately lying about the harmful effects of smoking or it isn't -- which is it? -- and what part does money play in its flip-flopping behavior?"

"It seems to me that the government stands to gain both ways from its present position -- being supported by both the tobacco industry and the anti-smoking lobby --and a total ban on the sale of tobacco products would be detrimental to all three parties."

"If tobacco products are harmless and the government is just going along with the anti-smoking lobby in order to appease it and gain votes and money -- then that's understandable," says Tyla, "but if tobacco products are really as harmful as the anti-smoking lobby says they are, then by not banning the products the government is deliberately killing us -- and that's criminal behavior."

"I guess the government could squirm out of the inconsistency by saying that it cannot ban smoking because it doesn't want to infringe on our rights to choose our own poison," muses Tyla, "but that's a load of bull because we only have two legal choices -- alcohol and cigarettes -- everything else is banned!"

"It's only by making harmful substances illegal -- like heroin and cocaine -- that people understand the risk they're taking when they use it," sighs Tyla. "Just putting a warning label on a pack of cigarettes is not going to have the same effect because warning labels are everywhere these days -- even on plastic bags."

"Sure, cigarettes might kill you if you eat the damn things just like a plastic bag might kill you if you tied it around your head -- and idiots need to be warned about these dangers," laughs Tyla, "but if used for the purpose they are sold freely and legally on the market no product should be harmful."

"So, is our government sanctioning the sale of a harmful product or isn't it?"

"While I'm still young and not yet addicted to cigarettes I want to know if my government refuses to ban cigarettes -- and is deliberately killing me -- because it's in the pocket of the tobacco industry and wants to squeeze more taxes out of me for as long as it can," says Tyla, "or if it refuses to ban cigarettes because it does not consider tobacco products to be as harmful as other drugs and all the warning labels are just an appeasement for the anti-smoking lobby."

"Right now, I tend to believe the appeasement argument because if I died prematurely from lung cancer both the government and the tobacco industry would suffer financially -- they're not going to deliberately kill off a potential golden goose," admits Tyla, "but all the same I don't want to die prematurely from lung cancer and I certainly don't want to be a golden goose for the government, the tobacco industry or -- if it comes to that -- the anti-smoking lobby."

"I'm mindful that the anti-smoking lobby is making a lucrative living off smokers, too," says Tyla."If smoking was truly as harmful as they make it out to be then they would demand -- with everyone's approval, especially mine -- to have the sale of tobacco products banned outright."

"I don't see the anti-smoking lobby calling for an outright ban on tobacco and I can understand why -- if tobacco products were banned, their income and purpose in life would come to an abrupt end, right?"

"To be totally cynical, if smoking were truly as harmful as they make it out to be and the anti-smoking lobby does not call for a ban on the sale of tobacco products then they are deliberately killing me, too."

"To put a stop to all of this confusion I challenge the anti-smoking lobby to put its money where its mouth is -- cut the mealy mouth warnings, call for a total ban on the sale of tobacco products, and mean it -- or butt out of my life."